"Etani!" Malik cried, and she looked around at him, smiling slightly. "You're bleeding."
"A siren decided to take up residence in the cavern and didn't take very lightly to our invasion," she said, lifting her leg and looking down at the bite. It wasn't bad, but it was oozing.
Versalis stood and headed into the lab to collect supplies.
"Oh, stealing more of my concoctions?" she snarled as he returned, his face showing his lack of guilt.
"I'm not going to apologise," he said while she grumbled, dropping into the comfortable chair and letting him treat her leg and shoulder.
Looking around, she heard the door close and sighed as Dirdos and Daemon disappeared once they were sure she was being looked after.
"Where are they off to?" Malik asked.
"Daemon walked in on Dirdos and Etani otherwise occupied and now they're off to handle sexual frustrations," Letari said casually, her eyes on the book in her lap.
That silenced everyone in the room, and she blushed, her eyes lowered.
"Who is the dominant in that situation…?" Jagum asked, but no one had an answer.
Etani didn't want to think about it, leaving the room to bathe once Versalis said her leg and shoulder would be fine.
She was surprised when the door opened while she was undressing and Sebastian slunk into the room, sitting down on the bench and watching her.
"Babysitting?" she asked. He nodded, amused. "I had been thinking about you a little while I was gone," she said, pulling off her water-soaked underwear and brassiere, throwing them into a basket she didn't recognise.
"Is that so?" he asked, sounding amused.
"Your mouth, and your eyes," she said, vaguely recalling what they had looked like when she attacked him.
"Ah, yes. I wasn't sure if you were aware enough to notice."
"Your blood sings to me," she said, sitting on the edge of the bath with her feet in the water.
"As does yours."
"Why does your mask change your eyes?"
"Because crimson is a less intimidating colour to most."
"It's intentional?"
"Yes. It was to make people more comfortable while in my presence."
"I prefer you without the mask," she said gently, not really intending for him to hear it.
"Do you?" he asked, genuinely surprised.
She nodded, watching the water, though she heard his approaching, coming to sit cross legged on the tiles a few feet from the bath.
"Why?"
"I find it attractive," she said simply and glanced up at him. He was looking at her oddly, as though he thought she was crazy. "No one ever said I was normal," she explained, and his laugh was delicious.
Leaning closer, she held out her hand between them, questioning him on if she was allowed to. He looked at her hand, then up at her face before he leant closer and she slid her finger gently into the front of his mask, dragging it down over his chin to fall around his neck.
Studying his face, she smiled faintly as she was now able to see him properly. His mouth was wider than most, though not as wide as Vincent's or Dainin's, however he had a series of scars that stretched further back to his ears, making the feral grin look bigger than it was.
His eyes were wary as she studied him, waiting for the rejection he wasn't going to get from her.
Twisting onto her knees, she inched closer to him and she cupped his face between her hands, turning his head slightly so she could see the scars better, her fingers light on his skin and he shivered in response to her touch.
"Do you have these scars anywhere else?" she asked quietly, their knees almost touching as she knelt before him.
"Yes, we tend to fight," he said.
"We?" she asked curiously
"My siblings. There are four of us."
"And you all have these teeth?" she asked, fascinated.
"Yes."
Her eyes trailed down his neck to the collar of his shirt and she pursed her lips, wanting to look but knowing better.
He smiled faintly and tugged at the first few buttons of his shirt, pulling it open enough for her to see that he was covered in scars, all similar to the shape of his teeth.
Leaning closer, she studied the scars, and his eyes were locked on her face, just as fascinated with her as she was for him.
"What is it about you that draws me?" she asked curiously, her fingers light as she traced one set of scars.
"I suppose it is because we are similar. Both cannibalistic monsters."
Nodding slowly, she lifted her eyes to his and studied them curiously. The gold was striking against the black and she smiled, her cheeks turning a delicate pink as thoughts skittered through her mind, tantalising throughs about what it would be like to see those eyes hooded in pleasure.
Inching away from him, she turned off the taps and slipped into the bath, the temptation that was Sebastian too much for her.
"So, you and the dragon?" he asked, and she laughed gently.
"No," she said. "No. Part of me wants to, but it will never come to be."
"Why not? You clearly desire each other."
"I'm not so sure I was destined for that."
"Destined for what?" he asked, moving around so that he could see her face.
"Love, or even just knowing pleasure. It's not my fate, my fate is to suffer."
"I don't believe that. You could have any man you wanted in either worlds," he said.
"And yet here I am, talking to my bodyguard while one of my potential mates runs off with another of them," she said, hating that she was feeling sorry for herself.
"You don't approve?"
"Of course I do, if that's what makes them happy, then I think they would be good for each other. Dirdos needs the stability, Daemon needs the danger."
"But?"
"But it makes me sad, because if they have each other, I won't have either. I guess that makes me selfish."
He frowned, watching her for several long minutes before he turned his attention to the bottles and sniffed them, offering her the ones she liked.
"You prefer lavender," he said and when she lifted her brow, he blushed. "I notice things like that."
Accepting the bottle, she frowned at it curiously and was pleased to see it was a sand and oil mixture that smoothed her skin and left her feeling deliciously tingly.
"I don't think you're selfish, just uncertain," he said finally. "You have so many options, don't know if you want to make a choice at all, and are scared of what will happen to the others if you make that choice. So, you wait and hope they won't hate you for waiting."
Blinking, she looked up at him in confusion.
"Sorry, I shouldn't speak out of turn," he said, taking the bottle back and setting it down to find another one.
"Is it that obvious?" she asked, her heart sinking.
"No, I am just very observant of you and how you interact with the others," he seemed to realise how creepy that sounded and cleared his throat. "I need to be aware of your relationships, so I observe. You try to hide it, but you love each one of them very deeply. Particularly the vampire with the curly hair, and the vampire king. The Fae and your sister are right up there too but that kind of love is instinctive. Daemon and Dirdos scare you but that fear is exciting. Jagum is more like a sibling, you would kill for him but do not find him sexually appealing. Hunter, Malik, and the two Hunters are all on equal footing, new to your life and they are all potentials, though something had changed between you and your scion. He is becoming more like a child than a lover. You see Bast like a mother and the other Gods are more like wary acquaintances you only tolerate because you have to. Except for Hades, you have a deep respect and fascination for him, even if you feel betrayed. You and the other vampire twin have a history that makes him burn for you, he's possessive and wants to hurt you and own you, but he also loves you with a fanatical zeal bordering on worship. You are angry at him, betrayed and afraid, but you still long for him. As for me, you have a deep sexual attraction that borders on violence."
She hadn't expected him to go off on a tangent and she stared up at him, her face pale as she tried to wrap her head around everything he had said to her.
"I…" she trailed off, completely stumped on what to say to him and so he handed her another bottle. She took it automatically, still staring at him with a blank face.
"You're so pretty when you're confused," he said, amused by her expression. "What were you two doing in the cavern?"
"I wanted to know what it was like to have sex, consensual sex."
His face hardened at her need to clarify and she shrugged.
"But the demon interrupted," he said.
"Yes, Malik warned him that I was injured?"
"Yes, he was worried about you. You've never permitted a man to touch you?"
"I had hoped Dirdos would be able to, but now that seems unlikely. So here I am."
Letting her head rest against the tiles of the floor, she looked up at the ceiling, lifting a handful of bubbles up and blowing them into the air.
"I could show you," he said and when she looked at him, he looked horrified with himself. "I didn't mean to say that," he said quickly.
"Because you don't want to, or because you feel you shouldn't?" she asked, considering him.
"Because it's improper. I'm here at the request of Amun, I'm not to attempt anything with you."